The Romeike Reversal

  

Many of you, I’m sure, have heard that the German homeschooling family seeking asylum in the U.S. has now been told it can stay. In an amazing turnaround, the Department of Homeland Security contacted the Romeikes to inform them they have been granted “indefinite deferred status,” which is bureaucrat-speak for permission to remain as long as they don’t break any laws. I am delighted for them, as are a whole host of others. They never should have been threatened with… Read more »

Parental Rights & Obama

  

According to the Supreme Court, the battle is over for the Romeike family. The Court denied the request for a review of their case. The Romeikes, for those who may not know or have forgotten, are a homeschooling family from Germany who came to the United States for the freedom to teach their children in the way they believe God intended. They were fleeing their native country because Germany has a law that requires all children to attend government-sponsored schools…. Read more »

Oscars & the Celebrity Culture

  

Last night was the Oscar extravaganza. I see a lot of comments about it on Facebook this morning. That, and other news reports, is how I’ll get my info on what happened. I stopped watching this Hollywood self-congratulation “look-at-us-we’re-stars” self-esteem movement years ago. No, I’m not a film curmudgeon, but there’s enough smugness in the world without spending an entire evening viewing the preening and self-admiration of a largely narcissistic community. Actually, I love movies. My first degree was not… Read more »

Finney: Speaking with God’s Anointing

  

Many ministers during the time of Charles Finney were trained to write out their sermons each week. Finney felt this wasn’t the best way to receive God’s anointing and truly give the people what they needed. He had his own unique way of preparing to preach. Here’s how he explains it in his autobiography: I do not confine myself to hours and days of writing my sermons; but my mind is always pondering the truths of the Gospel, and the… Read more »

Lewis: The Importance of History

  

Why is it important to study history? In an essay entitled “Learning in War-Time,” C. S. Lewis provides this insight: We need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present, to remind us that the basic assumptions have been quite different in different periods and that much which seems certain to the uneducated is merely temporary fashion. People… Read more »

The Sabbatical Year

  

I received a tremendous blessing recently: Southeastern University awarded me a sabbatical for the upcoming academic year. Once the current spring semester ends in May, I will have until the beginning of the fall semester in August 2015 to research and write. In tandem with a colleague in the college of religion, I will have the opportunity to delve into the subject of spiritual advisers to presidents. Our goal is to begin with a couple of articles on the topic,… Read more »

Eternal Vigilance . . .

  

A few follow-ups today on topics I’ve mentioned recently. Yesterday I commented on Secretary of State John Kerry’s insistence that global warming is settled science and that anyone who questions it belongs to the Flat Earth Society. Never mind, of course, that no one of learning ever really believed the earth was flat; to point that out would be inappropriate. I came across what I consider to be a fine rejoinder to Kerry’s rather smug assertion: Our modern-day skeptics of… Read more »